Rotary engine.



PATENTED DEC. 15, 1903.

H. 0. ESSINGTON.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED-JULY 3, 1903.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Q fi. 63251927293072 I V I @Alfovge y PATENTED DEC. 15, 1903.

- H. 0. ESSINGTON.

ROTARY ENGINE.

AIBILIOATION FILED JULY 3, 1902.

N0 MODEL' SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I I I J'lllorgeys :TzRs 00.. PHOYEHJTHQ. WASHINGTON n c No. 747,319. PATENTED DEG. 15, 1903.

' H G. ESSINGTON.. ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION rum) JULY 3, 1993.

no MODEL.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- THE NORRIS PETERS co. PACTO-LITHQ wasulucron, n. z.

UNITED STATES iatented December 15, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

ROTARY ENGIN E.

SPEGIFIGATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 747,319, d t d D b 15, 1903. Application filed July 3,1903. Serial No. 164.228. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, HENRY O. ESSINGTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented a new and useful Rotary Engine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in rotary engines, and has for its principal object to provide a novel form of oscillatory abutment that will be perfectly balanced by pressure of the steam or other fluid used in operating the engine, and thus prevent excessive friction between the abutment and the periphery of the piston-drum.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel form of oscillatory abutment in which the abutment is provided with an opening or openings to permit the escape of steam to the exhaust and, further, in which the abutmentis of skeleton form.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel form of rotary engine in which the steam-pressure may be out 01f at any desired point in order to obtain the advantage of the expansive properties of the steam, the. parts being so constructed as to permit of adjustment for full steam-pressure throughout the whole of the stroke or for cutting off at about one-tenth or even less of the stroke and allowing the steam to act expansively during the remaining movement.

With these and other objects in View, as will more fully hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportions, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a transverse sectional elevation of a rotary engine constructed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of the same on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective View of the abutment detached. Fig. 4 is a similar view of a slightlymodified construction of abutment. Figs. 5

and 6 are views corresponding to Fig. 1, illns trating slight modifications of the invention. Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings. The main body of the cylinder is secured to or formed integral with a base 1 and is provided in the preferred form of engine with a pair of diametrically-opposed extensions 2 for the reception of the abutment and valve members of the engine. To each end of the cylinder is bolted a removable head 3, one of these being provided with steam chests 4, having the usual removable covers 5 and containing slide-valves for controlling the flow of fluid to the cylinder. 6 designates a horizontal shaft extending through openings formed in bosses on each head, and on said shaft is mounted a piston-' drum 7, having any desired number of ra dially-disposed piston-wings 8, three being shown in the preferred form of engine. Theopposite sides of the main piston-body are provided with annular grooves for the reception of spring-pressed packing-strips 9 in the form of plain or sectional rings of any usual type and adapted to bear against the inner faces of the heads in order to prevent leakage of steam from the annular steam-space between the curved wall of the cylinder and the periphery of the piston-drum. The wings are each provided with angular faces disposed approximatelyin tangential lines with respect to the piston-drum, and at the side of each Wing and at that surface adjacent to the curved inner wall of. the cylinder are grooves for the reception of packing-strips 14, which may be of any ordinary construction.

Steam is supplied to the engine through inlets 11, leading to the steam-chest, and passes through a port 12, of which one is arranged in each of the extensions 2 to the steam-space of the cylinder. The steam-port is controlled by slide-Valve 13, heldto its seat by pressure of steam in the chest and provided with an enlarged head or boss through which extends a threaded valve-stern 14, provided at each side of the boss with adjusting-nuts 15, by which .the position of the valve with respect to the stem maybe altered in order to adjust the cut-ofi to any desired extent, thus permitting of the operation of the steam expansively.

Each of the valve-stems extends through a stufling-box 1 and is connected by a link 18 to a crank-pin 19, carried by a crank-disk 20, that is mounted on a spindle 21, adapted to suitable bearings formed in one of the removable heads. Each of the spindles 21 is provided with a pinion 22, intermeshing with a gear-wheel 23, that is carried by and receives motion from the main shaft. At each rotative movement of the main shaft the pinions will be turned and eifect movement of thevalves through the medium of the crankdisks, links, and valve-stems.

In each of the extended portions 2 is formed an exhaust-chamber 25, in communication with an exhaust-pipe 26, a portion of the steam being allowed to exhaust through these pipes; but where a large number of pistonwings are used it is desirable to employ an additional exhaust, such as indicated at 27 and through which the greater part of the steam passes, preventing the carrying around of dead steam between adjacent abutments.

Between the steam-space and the exhaustchamber 25 is hung an abutment 30. The abutment is provided with an elongated knuckle 31, fitting within a suitably-shaped socket 32, formed in the main cylinder member and so arranged with respect to the periphery of the piston-drum as to permit free oscillatory movement of the abutment. That surface of the abutment exposed to the steampressure is preferably flat, with the exception of the portion that bears against the periphery of the piston, the abutment being preferably rounded at this point and at the opposite edge being curved to follow the curved line of the exhaust-chamber 25, so that no steam can pass from the steam-port direct to the exhaust. The opposite end portions of the abutment are curved on lines following the exhaust-chamber and fitting preferably within correspondingly-shaped guides at the ends of the exhaust-chamber. The mouth of the steam-port is extended practically for the full Width of the cylinder in the form of a contracted slot 35 and the parts being so related that the initial pressure of the steam in passing over the abutment will tend to thrust such abutment in a line radiating from the center of the abutment-knuckle and socket and will in part exercise pressure tending to move the inner edge of the abutment from engagement with the periphery of the piston-drum. The inner edge of the abutment presses lightly yet firmly against the periphery of the drum and always with sufficient force to prevent leakage of steam. The shape of the abutment is such as to best adapt it to form a fixed piston-head and resist the action of the steam between it and the movable piston-wing, the pressure here exerted being also in a radial line leading to the center of the knuckle and socket and in part to theinner side of such center,

so that a portion of the force will tend to hold the abutment against the piston-drum. The pressure of the steam is thus balanced on opposite sides of the center of the knuckle with the inner portion of the abutment receiving slightly-greater pressure than the outer portion; but in no case can there be sufiicient pressure exerted to lead to excessive wear between the parts in contact.

It'will be noted that with an engine such as shown in Fig. l, where the piston-drum is provided with three radially-disposed wings, the piston-drum receives six impulses during each revolution, and when provision is made for proper cut-ofif steam may be allowed to act expansively six times during each revolution. The main portion of the steam exhausts through the port 27, and any remaining steam has free passage above the oscillating abutment to the chamber 25, and thence to the exhaust 26.

As the parts are so arranged as to nearly or quite balance the oscillatory abutment, it becomes desirable to provide means for insuring positive contact between the abutment and the periphery of the piston, and for this purpose I employ a compression-spring 37, bearing at one end on the outer portion of the abutment and passing up through a suitable tube secured to the cylinder, a screw and adjusting-nuts being provided in order to alter the stress of the spring when necessary.

In Fig. 5 is illustrated a slight modification of the invention wherein the revoluble pistondrum is provided with a single wing 8, and in this case the auxiliary exhaust 27 may be entirely omitted and all of the steam allowed to exhaust through the oscillating abutment and escape-pipe 26.

Fig. 6 illustrates a further modification of the invention in which the piston is mounted eccentrically to the cylinder and provides a gradually-contracted steam-space and a gradually-enlarging exhaust-space which will permit advantageous use of the pressure of steam and allow it to freely exhaust after its work has been accomplished.

The construction of the abutment may be modified by boring the same at the kn ucklepoint and employing a suitable shaft journaled in the cylinder-heads as pivotal supports for such abutment.

It will be observed that the abutment may be easily moved back and forth, being perfectly balanced, and to move outward it is only necessary to overcome the stress of the spring.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is- 1. In a rotary engine, a piston-drum having a radially-disposed wing, an exhaust-chamber, an abutment pivotally mounted within the exhaust-chamber and bearing at one edge against the piston-drum and at the opposite edge against the wall of the exhaust-chamber, the abutment being exposed to approximately equal steam-pressure on opposite sides of a median line to thereby balance-the abutment and prevent excessive friction bet ween the abutment and the piston.

2. In a rotary engine, a piston-drum, an oscillating abutment, a steam-inlet port, an exhaust-chamber separated from the inlet-port by said abutment, said exhaust-chamber having a curved wall constantly engaged by one edge of the abutment while the opposite edge of said abutment bears against the pistondrum, the abutment being exposed to pressure on opposite sides of a median line by the pressure in the steam-space and the pressure from the steam-port, and aspring projecting within the exhaust-chamber and bearing on the abutment, substantially as specified.

3. In a rotary steam-engine, the combination with a cylinder, a piston-drum having a radially-disposed wing, an exhaust-chamber, an abutment havinga pivotal knuckle adapted to a recess in one wall of the exhaust-chamber, one edge of the abutment bearing against the periphery in the piston-drum, and the opposite edge of said abutment being curved on a line concentric with the axis of the knuckle and fitting within a correspondingly-curved wall of the exhaust-chamber, and a steamport for the admission of steam to the cylinder, the abutment being so disposed as to be subjected to approximately equal pressures on opposite sides of 'a median line including the axis of the knuckle.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

HENRY C. ESSINGTON.

Witnesses:

J. Ross CoLHoUN, C. E. DOYLE. 

